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The present invention relates to wall mountable electrically activated fumigation devices. It appears to be especially well suited for use in permitting such devices to be compatible with electric sockets having varied alignments relative to the wall.
Devices are known for fumigating an enclosed area, such as a room in a house, by expelling a fumigant (e.g. typically an insecticide or fragrance) upon an application of heat. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,914, some of these devices include a disposable canister containing the fumigant and an electric heater positioned under the fumigant. When activated, these devices produces a fog that is expelled out to fumigate a room or the like.
Before the application of heat, the fumigant is typically in a solid form. It subsequently transforms into a viscous gel material in response to the initial introduction of heat. As a result, it is desirable to direct the mouths of such devices at least partially upwardly to prevent the gel from spilling. While further heating will produce the fog, during the gel phase, there is a spilling potential.
On a vertical wall, blade sockets can be side-by-side, or alternatively one over the other. One previous fumigation device includes a canister/housing assembly whose orientation is fixed with respect to the electrical plug. As a result, the mouth of the canister faces vertically upwardly when the plug is inserted in side-by-side blade holes, but horizontally when the blade holes are one on top of the other. When in this horizontal orientation, gelled fumigant might spill from the fumigation device. Accordingly, the system is not compatible with the latter type of blade hole configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,914 provided an improved device having a plug mounted on an angle with respect to the housing, thus allowing the mouth to be positioned at least somewhat upwardly (regardless of the orientation of the electrical receptacle). One potential disadvantage of this device is that the gaseous fumigant is expelled parallel to the direction of extension of the wall. Accordingly, when mounted on a vertical wall, the fumigant will not be directed towards the interior of the room.
A need thus exists for a fumigation device that is compatible with electrical receptacles of varying orientations while directing activated fumigant outwardly towards the interior of the room to be fumigated.
In one aspect the invention provides a fumigation device. There is a housing having an axially extending upstream portion and a transversely extending downstream portion. Preferably the transverse direction is completely radial. However, it might also be somewhat angled.
The downstream portion has an outer end defining a delivery port. There is a chamber disposed within the upstream portion which has a mouth in communication with the delivery port. The chamber contains a heat-activatable fumigant.
There is also an electrical plug extending outwardly from the housing and configured to be received by an electrical receptacle. A heating device is disposed in the housing in electrical communication with the electrical plug and in thermal communication with the chamber.
A trap is configured and positioned to trap non-gaseous flowable fumigant if such non-gaseous flowable fumigant were to escape from the chamber if the upstream portion is horizontally disposed, while permitting gaseous fumigant to flow from the chamber to the delivery port if the upstream portion is horizontally disposed and the heating device is heating the fumigant an electric fumigation device.
In preferred forms the trap has two walls spaced from each other to define a trap pocket there between, each trap wall having an opening there through. The openings are preferably not aligned with each other and the trap walls are connected at their ends with one wall flat and the other dome shaped, or otherwise geometrically receptive to fumigant in liquid form.
The electrical plug can extend from the housing in a first radial direction, and the delivery port can extend from the housing in a second radial direction essentially opposite the first radial direction. In one aspect, when the device is plugged into an electrical receptacle on a flat room wall the upstream portion extends essentially parallel to the room wall. If desired the trap can sit in an outwardly extending flange of the chamber.
In another aspect the invention provides a method of fumigating an area in which an electrical receptacle is mounted on a wall with a fumigating active ingredient. One plugs the above fumigating device into the electrical receptacle, and allows electricity from the electrical receptacle to cause a release of the active ingredient.
The present invention thus achieves mounting flexibility by allowing the fumigator to be vertically or horizontally disposed, without risking gel spillage during heating. Further, fumes are directed away from the wall, thereby avoiding contact with possibly sensitive wall surfaces.
The foregoing and other advantages of the invention will appear from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part thereof, and in which there is shown by way of illustration, and not limitation, a preferred embodiment of the invention. Such embodiment does not necessarily represent the full scope of the invention. Reference must therefore be made to the claims herein for interpreting the scope of the invention.